Hola peoples!! I'm back! Sorry I've been gone for so long. School is murder on my social life...wait a minuet! I don't have a social life! *lol* j/k, anyway, I've put up the 2nd chapter to "Links to the Past" (finally) and now here's chapter 6 of "NSA"! Thanks to everyone who's reading and everyone who reviewed! You all inspire me :) hehehehehehe..

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"..." Spoken Words

*...* w/italics Thoughts

~~~~~~~~~ Scene Changes/Flashbacks/change in P.O.V

[...] Authors Notes

Disclaimer: The CCS characters DO NOT belong to me, ok! They belong to © Clamp...so please don't sue me!! ^^'

~No Strings Attached ~

Just in case you forgot, here's a review of the last chapter:

"Sakura cringed and bit her lip; she had to destroy Ryu? Well, at least she wasn't alone in the fight. She always had Kero, Yue and Syaoran...then there was the matter of that other guardian.

How on earth was she supposed to find someone she had supposedly never met before in her entire 17 years of existence? Where was she even supposed to start looking? Under her bed?"

Chapter 6: Ok, ok, just ONE clue...

Sakura continued her meticulous thinking while Kero flew uneasily around the room.

"Kero!" Sakura yelled in annoyance, "Stop pacing! You're making me nervous!"

Kero jumped a little and flew to the bed.

"Oops, sorry Sakura, I guess this whole situation is just making me a little jumpy, that's all..."

Sakura sighed (-_-') at Kero.

"You're jumpy?! I'm the one with the problem here, Kero! I've gotta somehow find some person who I've never even met before to help me protect the Cards against my so-called 'psychotic' boyfriend and then I've got to battle Ryu, destroy him and, by doing so, saving the world. And if I fail?! Guess what happens! The whole world is swallowed up into eternal, evil darkness and guess whose fault it is! MINE!"

Kero sat still, somewhat frightened by Sakura's outburst.

*Geeze I hope these flare-ups aren't becoming a daily thing with her* Kero thought sarcastically.

"Sakura, I understand that you're stressed and that you don't know where to start. But if I could help you, I would. My paws are tied, Sakura. All I can do now is protect you in battle as best as I can until the other guardian shows up."

Sakura's ears perked up at that.

"Wait a minuet...other guardian? Kero, where's Yue?"

Kero sat still again, looking somewhat puzzled.

"Ya know, to tell you the truth Sakura, I haven't got the faintest idea where Yue could be hiding. We could always ask your brother, I suppose."

Sakura continued staring at her pink carpet, her head resting in her shaking hands.

"Well, right now, finding Yue is our last problem...We've gotta find this other guardian right now...before it's too late. Are you sure you can't tell me anything you know?" she responded, rising from her former position.

"Kero sadly hung his golden head and shook it.

"No, I'm sorry Sakura. I wish I could..."

"Wait a minuet, do you even know who this other guardian is, Kero?"

Kero stared at her with an 'eyebrow' raised.

"Hello Sakura, I'm the Guardian Beast of the Seal! Of course I know who it is! Duh!"

Sakura started to fume again, but quickly resisted the urge to rip Kero's little head off.

*My gosh, after this I'm gonna need a whole lot of serious therapy. Or at least anger management.* Sakura thought, sighing worrisomely.

Sakura stood a moment longer, just thinking...when suddenly an idea came to her.

"Well then, if you're not going to be any help to me, Kero, why should I let you come along and help me find this person? It's not like you're going to tell me anyway if I do find them...Oh well...I think I'll start out at the ice cream shop...see you later Kero!"

Kero's mouth began watering at the mentioning of ice cream...

"W-wait Sakura! If I give you ONE clue, will you buy me an ice cream?! PLEEEEEASE!!"

Sakura smiled triumphantly at Kero.

"Ok, ok, stop nagging, you can come."

"YIPPIE!!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About 2 hours later on a park bench...

"So Kero, can I have my one clue now? I get to ask a question right?" Sakura said to her flying, yellow buddy excitedly.

Kero reluctantly stopped licking his triple chocolate ice cream cone and looked at Sakura.

"Yes Sakura, you can ask ONE question and I'll give you ONE answer."

"Ok good! um...hold on, lemme think for a second..."

Sakura thought for some time, looking at different things and people, as if they'd give her a clue of what to ask.

Pretty soon, she'd been thinking so long, that Kero was becoming quite annoyed by having to go in and out of pretending to be a stuffed animal.

"Sakura!" he cried loudly, becoming quite agitated with her.

Sakura snapped out of her thinking mode and looked warily at Kero.

"Yes, Kero? Is something wrong?" she asked, densely.

Kero sweat-dropped (^-^')

"Sigh have you thought of a question yet?"

Sakura continued staring at him for another moment, then shifted her gaze to the tree beside the bench she was seated at.

"Ok, I know it's probably not the most intelligent question to ask, but it's the only thing that I think of that will help me; So, whoever this guardian person is, they're obviously supposed to protect me...and if they are supposed to protect me, then they'd have to be close to me in some way, shape or form...therefore, my question is this: Do I know them fairly well?" she asked, averting her gaze back to Kero.

Kero slightly smiled at his Card Mistress and looked up at her.

"Yes Sakura, you know them better than you're thinking you do. This person is almost everywhere you are...and they care for you more than you'll ever know."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at him; so she knew the person....well, who on earth could it possibly be??

"Well then, the only options that I really have are: Tomoyo, you and....Syaoran...But you said it's a person right? So then, that discards the idea that it's you, so that leaves just Tomoyo and Syaoran..."

Sakura was now immersed in thought; she was trying desperately to figure out which one of her friends could be her guardian. In fact, she was so engrossed in thought that she didn't notice the being standing before her.

Kero had been tapping her for almost five minuets and had gotten no reaction. He glanced at Sakura's visitor and gestured for them to speak to her. The person nodded at Kero and turned their attention back to the pondering Cherry Blossom.

*Ok, so my options here are Tomoyo and Syaoran...Well, I don't think it could be Tomoyo because I'm the one that usually ends up protecting her. I've already established that it's not Kero because they're a person...So that only leaves--*

"Sakura?"

Almost immediately Sakura snapped out of her train of thought.

"Syaoran?! W-what are you doing h-here....now?"

Syaoran removed his strong hands from his jacket pockets and slowly sat down on the bench beside Sakura.

"I was walking home from the library and saw you sitting her with the stuffed animal."

Syaoran rapidly shot a glance at Kero, noticed his fuming and prepared himself for the reaction from the small animal...YEP! Kero bit his finger...again.

Sakura watched as the two battled it out together and smiled.

"Kero, let go, you know he only says that because he knows he'll get this kind of a reaction from you," she said calmly, still smiling.

Both beings looked at her, expressionless.

Syaoran gapped momentarily before shaking the yellow animal from his finger and returning his attention back to Sakura.

"So where did you say you came from again?" she asked, resuming their conversation.

"Sakura I'm from China, remember?"

Sakura smirked at him.

"Syaoran, You know what I mean."

"Yeah yeah, I know...I was just kidding....Oh, I, uh, came from the library."

"Well, why didn't you take your car? You have one...and it's kinda cold out here today, too...why did you walk there and back?" she asked, somewhat flippantly.

Syaoran half smiled at her question.

"I dunno...I just thought it was kind of nice out, so I walked...Why? Do you have something against walking to places, Sakura?"

Sakura laughed a little.

"No Syaoran, I was just wondering, that's all..." she asked, rather sheepishly. "So, where were you headed?" she said, abruptly changing the subject.

"Oh I was just on my way home; Are you going to stay here all day and night or can I walk you home?"

Sakura grinned broadly.

"Sure you can...I was going to leave soon anyway."

"Well then," Syaoran said, rising up from the bench and holding out his arm, "shall we?"

Sakura continued smiling at him and took his arm.

"I think we shall," she said, laughing slightly.

Kero, not wanting to interrupt the beautifully sappy moment, followed closely behind the two adolescents.

*[Sigh] I just don't know how Sakura doesn't realize who the guardian of her heart is...I think it's pretty obvious!*

Kero sighed (-_-') again and continued following the duo down the crisscrossing streets and up Sakura's front steps.

"Well here we are, I guess I'll see you later Sakura. Take care" said Syaoran, smiling and halfheartedly releasing his arm's grip on Sakura.

Sakura chuckled (yes again ^_~) again and walked slowly up her steps to the door.

"Good night Syaoran...I'll see you tomorrow I guess."

"Yeah, tomorrow..."

Not knowing what else to say, Sakura nervously searched her pockets for her house keys.

Syaoran stood looking at her, desperately trying not to look too interested in the way the setting sun's rays glistened off of her ravishing face, making her practically glow. Or in the way her loose, auburn hair fell over her sparkling, emerald eyes as she frantically continued looking for her house keys.

"Well," Syaoran said, nervously breaking the silence, "I-I had better get home...I h-have a lot of homework to do...s-so...um, see ya Sakura."

Sakura looked up at him in time to catch the reluctance in his eyes as he turned his back to her and began walking back to the main sidewalk.

"W-wait Syaoran..."

Syaoran stopped dead in his tracks and slowly turned around, his hands in his pockets.

"Yes?" he said, trying to look everywhere but where she was.

"Um...Could you, um, help me look for my keys? I must have dropped them somewhere around here."

Syaoran nodded and quickly set to work on looking for her keys.

After about twenty minuets of searching around her yard, in the neighbor's yards, and anywhere else they'd gone, Sakura and Syaoran finally gave up and sat down on Sakura's front steps.

Syaoran stared at the ground for a moment and then looked at Kero, who was now sitting tiresomely on the doorknob.

"Wait, what about Kero? Can't he just fly through your window and unlock the door from the inside?"

Sakura shook her head.

"No, he could get through my window, but my brother had so many locks put on the door, that Kero wouldn't even get one open."

Syaoran sighed (-_-') hopelessly and turned back to the ground.

"Well, when are your dad and brother coming home?"

"My Dad is going on an Archeological field trip tomorrow, so he'll be at the university all night. And Tori, he left town this morning for some convention in Tokyo. I doubt either of them will be back tonight."

Syaoran was getting worried. As much as he secretly loved Sakura, he didn't want to have the temptation of having her sleeping at his apartment.

"Uh....Well, w-what about....T-Tomoyo?"

Sakura looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Syaoran, Tomoyo left with her mother on a business trip, remember? They're probably getting off a plane in England now."

Syaoran blushed; he could have melted under her gaze.

"Uh, oh...right I forgot...he he..."

Sakura smiled and shook her head in minor disbelief, before looking up at the, now dark, sky. It was littered with stars and the moon was bright and 'half-full' (meaning it was in a crescent shape)

"Well...How about Rita? Or one of those girls you hang out with constantly." he asked, drawing her attention away from the night sky.

He decided that it'd be in his best interest not to look at the way the moon and starlight played about her wonderfully, magnificent features.

She looked at him and was about to respond to his question but was distracted by him. She had never really thought about it, but Syaoran was actually very good-looking, especially under the moonlight. His chestnut hair glimmered and lit up his entire smoldering face. The stars looked as if they had fallen and landed smack-dab in the middle of his wonderful, brown eyes.

Syaoran glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, feeling a heated gaze upon him, but, luckily for Sakura, he was sidetracked by something bright in the sky: a shooting star.

Sakura noticed it too and made a wish; that she would find the guardian of her heart, finish this Sakura Cards business and get on with her life. Yes, she loved having magic and having a close relationship with magical cards and a formally deceased magician, but she just wanted to feel normal for the first time. To not have the responsibility of the whole world's well-being upon her shoulders.

Sakura sighed (^-^') once more and began playing softly with her subtly brown hair as she dreamily gazed up at the sky.

"Sakura?"

Sakura's attention was drawn away from her hair and the sky when Syaoran spoke to her.

"Yes, Syaoran?"

Syaoran gulped at the way she was looking at him...from his view it looked sort of...seductive?

"You never answered my question."

"Oh, I'm sorry....what question was that?" she asked, placing her chin in her left hand.

"W-well I asked you if Rita was available...or if anyone else you knew was home to help...is there anyone?" he asked, half-heartedly wishing she'd say "no" and half-wishing she'd say "yes".

Sakura thought for a moment then turned her attention back to Syaoran.

"Well...Rita has an Algebra II exam tomorrow so she'll be having an all-night cram session; Chelsea and Zachary went to the movies and later were going to study for some night class test; Nikki...I think Nikki was going over to Rita's to help her cram...so, no, there's no one else...that is, except you." she said, pleadingly looking at him, "That is...if it's not too much trouble."

Syaoran felt the lump in his throat grow bigger as he began to sweat profusely.

"Uh...W-why would you t-think you'd b-be troublesome, Sakura? Y-you could never be a b-burden...n-never." he managed to stutter out as he watched her small, winning smile grow into a huge grin.

"So does that mean I can stay with you? Huh, huh, huh? Does it, does it, does it?" she asked childishly with her hands clamped together.

Syaoran smiled at her.

I don't think she understands how cute she can be sometimes.

"Yes then, you can stay with me."

Sakura's smile became miles wider (if it was possible) and she jumped up to hug him.

"Oh thank you SO much Syaoran! You don't know how much this means to me!"

Syaoran began to sweat profusely again as he tried to return her hug but was unsuccessful; this went unnoticed by Sakura.

"C'mon Syaoran! Let us make for to your domicile!"

"Sakura, have you had a little too much caffeine and sugar today?" Syaoran asked, sweat-dropping. (-_-')

Sakura laughed girlishly a moment and then quickly stopped.

"Yes...I probably did go overboard with the coffee-flavored ice cream..."

Syaoran half-smiled at her and took his place next to her on the sidewalk.

"Well then, just please don't bounce off the walls too loud, ok? I have other people living in the building with me, ya know."

Sakura laughed as she followed him down the sidewalk to his lonely apartment.

~~~~~End of Chapter 6~~~~~

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Sigh, for some weird reason I've been putting my fics off...I'm a procrastinator, so sue me! (actually, don't take that literally, please. I have no c@$h so it'd be kinda worthless and stupid to sue me!)

OBkb, now on with the political crap...

Questions? Comments or suggestion? Advice?

Email Me: silverserenity2000@yahoo.com or silvr255@bellsouth.net

TTYL!

BYEbye!

Storyline © Angel: da Newsies fan

Title © JC Chazes of *NSync